online and monopoly has the voting happening on facebook and you can vote for which piece you want to get rid of and which new piece you want to have on. >> times are a-changein'. >> i don't like the shoe, i would update the shoe. >> thanks for joining us. >> "america live" starts right n now. >> megyn: fox news alert, major developments in just the past few minutes in the crucial debate over the second amendment that's playing out in washington d.c. right now. we have just learned that vice-president joe biden plans to give president obama his recommendations on ways to curb gun violence by tuesday. that's where we begin today's edition of "america live." welcome, everyone, i'm megyn kelly. this comes as the vice-president holds meetings today with sportsmen, wild life interest group, wal-mart and most notably, the national rifle association. n.r.a. meeting is scheduled to take place later this hour and all less than 24 hours after the vice-president sent some shock waves in some circles by suggesting that president

obama may circumvent congress on this issue and use executive orders to get some these new gun rules in place. >> on whatever side of this debate falls, but the president is going to act executive orders, executive action can be taken, we haven't decided yet, but we're compiling it with the attorney general and the rest of the cabinet members, as well as legislative action we believe is required. >> megyn: chris stirewalt is our editor host of power play, and pete is ceo of concerned veterans of america and your power play piece today, chris, talks about how they're getting nowhere on this issue, i mean, the vice-president's having meetings, but at the end of the day, pardon the phrase, if they want to really pass meaningful legislation, and he can do some things by executive order, we're going to get into that later, but not all things, then he's gog

to need to get bipartisan support for these proposals and you're feeling less than optimistic that he will get it and explain why. >> well, look, here is the the thing, if you don't have fundamental agreement about what the discussion is, you can't have an agreement. you know how the israelis always say that they won't negotiate with anybody until they acknowledge the right of israel to exist as a country. the republicans and the democrats are fighting over the debt ceiling. liberals say, debt ceiling is a fiction, it's not even real, it may be the law, but it's antiquated, out of date. that's where we are now on the second amendment, where you hear people like andrew cuomo in his state of the state speech in new york last night. >> megyn: can i interrupt you on that, nothing you were going to go there, we cued up this sound and chris is going to make his point about this sound. listen to the governor of new york and we have bill clinton here, too, as well who you mentioned in power play. listen to them. >> i say to you forget the extremists, it's simple, no one hunts with an assault rifle.

no one needs ten bullets to kill a deer. and too many innocent people have died already. end the madness now. i grew up in-- culture, but this is nuts. why does anybody need a 30-clip, a 30-round clip for a gun. why does anybody need one of those things that carries a hundred bullets. >> megyn: some bill clinton's was a little garbled, but why does anybody need one of those things that carries a hundred bullets. the guy in colorado carried those. they're talking about hunting. and they're seeing the second amendment as archaic, these results shall not be

infridged, it's a right to own firearms. the right, conservative in this debate see this as a god given sacrosanct right, not whether you like to go deer hunting. this is whether the federal government is enjoined in the constitution from infringing on your right. we're talking past each other. the left and right are talking past each other the whole time, unless you agree on what the foundation this have discussion is you're never going to make any progress. >> megyn: pete, i haven't heard a lot of the republicans articulating, it's not just republicans, i shouldn't say this, this isn't a pure ideological republican-democrat issue, but i haven't heard a lot of the gun rights defenders come out and openly say, look, why do i need 100 round magazine, it's not that i need it, but i want it and it's my constitutional right to have it it and i don't want lawmakers taking it away from me because the founders said they couldn't? >> i think you do hear some people saying that, because we do draw, i'm an n.r.a. member

and i believe in the right to bear arms, and it is in the the constitution. but the other side uses the sort of vernier of assault weapons, a stock, and looks like a military weapon and bunch it altogether, not differentiating is it an automatic, semi ougautomatic, these are differences and magazine clips, what's the difference between a hundred rounds, 30 rounds, ten rounds, differences they're trying to make, the right to bear arms is messy, it's difficult. background checks should we have them, especially in light of the mental health issues at newtown. that's where the debate should be. if we're having common sense issues, let's quit going off the guns and talk about how we can look into the background, criminal record, mental illness of people who maybe shouldn't be owning certain firearms in light of what

happened. >> megyn: they are looking at that, but it's clearly been at page two at best at the white house and page one is guns. chris, we focus on the first amendment in in country and the second amendment in this country and yet, often time people forget that there was a reason they felt the need to put those rights in writing into the constitution. >> they put the messiest ones into the bill of rights, just as pete points out. this is a complicated, very messy. the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the freedom of assembly. the freedom to own guns are messy, very messy things to have in an orderly society and that's why the framers added the bill of rights to the constitution, to say, you know what? because these things are so tantalizing to government, because it makes good sense to he restrict them and to have an orderly society and have limits on what people can say and whether they can own guns, they spell them out, because

they knew how tempting it would be to governments later on. >> megyn: saying we're not going to have that here, and pete, yet you see politicians so often, they talk out of both sides of their mouths because they want gun control, they want to crack down on guns, and some say, you know, we need reasonable guns control and this question what that means. and then you see them out there pandering to gun lobbies, and they want people to believe-- they're pro gun in the hunting context, we saw with john kerry back in 2004. remember this photo. that was mocked universally even in the left wing press. i'm a huntsman, but i want gun restrictions. >> sure, and it's, you know, he clearly looks more comfortable wind surfing in that context (laughter) you're right though, it isn't just hunting, you know, even what president obama doesn't purport to be a hunter and you know what? i didn't grow up in a hunting household. i didn't even hold or fire a

weapon until i joined the military. so, a lot of these folks are playing off of naivete on the issue that like i said, big, scary, you know, ar-15's, they look scary and therefore they must be be banned without understanding the function behind them. that, i think, is where the debate can and should lie. and i think folks that really understand it should be out there talking about it, but to make it about hunting rifles, that's not what this is about. >> megyn: good debate, guys. thank you for being here. discussion i should say. >> you bet. >> megyn: fox news alert now, with breaking news from california. fox news just confirmed there has been a school shooting in the the city of pass, california. at least two people shot at taft high school, one suffering minor injuries and the other has been hospitalized, that's all we know. not clear yet whether the victims were students. we're hoping to have a live report ready in moments. ♪ >> well, we're also tracking a story on an escalating

health epidemic, three more states reporting widespread flu. bringing the bolt to 44. look at the red on the screen. at a much earlier point in the season than it normaly does, it means a bad season according to the experts. now shall the center for disease control says the number of flu related hospitalizations has doubled in just the past month. in boston, it is a full-blown outbreak. the city now under a public health emergency. cleaning crews are scrubbing down the subways, scrambling to contain the spread of this disease. the state reporting 18 flu deaths and hundreds sickened. a molly line live from boston. >> it's a difficult situation and the authorities are trying to get ahead of this now, such a problem. there have been 700 people sickened in boston with the flu, compared to 70 at this time during the last flu season, so they've declared this a public health emergency. essentially, the mayor and the

other health officials are trying to encourage people to get out now, get your flu shots and take extra precautions, to wash your hand, stay home from work if you're sick. as you mentioned, there have been 18 deaths state wide and four deaths here in boston alone and compared to just a single death from the floor during the last flu season, and the officials with the boston health commission are rehe reiterating the numbers that mayor has spoke been. >> we have a terrible problem on our hands with lots of people sick with the flu. the 700 cases that he mentioned are confirmed cases, but there are thousands of other people who are sick with influenza-like illness. >> reporter: and this is a particularly dangerous strain of the flu, health officials say, type a, h-3 influenza strain and severe symptoms and a worse outcome possibly. c.d.c. says that the h-3 strain is covered currently by the available vaccine that is out. one other thing to note here in boston, there are some communities hit harder than

others in the city. the roxbury section, and dorchester section, these are the areas high urban population, minority population and often folks that are of lower income, meaning they may not feel that they can skip work or don't have paid days off and go to work, get the co-workers sick and a domino effect. asking if you're sick or children are sick, stay home from work or school. >> megyn: molly line, thank you. the new president of egypt travels to the united states in just weeks and so far the white house has been silent about one of president morsi's top agenda items. he wants us to release the blind sheik who is tied to the 1993 world trade center bombing and serving a life sentence in north carolina. why would we release him? why haven't we said anything in response to this now very public demand being made upon us? congressman pete king wants the answers to those questions, too, he's here live next. and today, president obama nominates jack lew to be the

next treasury secretary, geithner is going. he takes new heat why his last four cabinet nominees are all white men. da dana perino reminds us how they were mocking mitt romney's binder of women comment. and georgia in the middle of the gun debate after a mother was forced to use a gun to defend herself and her children after a burglar was breaking into the home. and we hear it in real time as police release the 911 call. >> if he opens that door, you shoot, you shoot him, you understand? ♪ you know my heart burns for you... ♪

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you know these situations information comes in fast and furious, not a lot has been determined by local authorities. two people were shot at taft high school 9 a.m. this morning, 9:01 officially we're told by the fire department there. this is about two hours or so from los angeles, just off interstate 5 freeway, which is the main north-south interchange. the the taft area, smalltown america, not a huge high school, about 20,000 people in the surrounding area. we're told that there was one gunman, as far as they know, that that gunman is in custody. two people were shot, one refused to be treated at the scene, leading me to believe they may have just been grazed and the second we're told was airlifted to kern county medical center in bakersfield about 25 miles away. the students have since been secured and a lot taken to the football field and reports, megyn, that the local media was getting phone calls as this was going on this morning, of students and people hiding in closets at the high school as this was playing out. the good news right now the gunman is in custody, and right now, seems only one person seriously injured.

megyn. >> megyn: adam, thank you. well, the house homeland security committee is demanding answers from president obama regarding his silence about the possible release of a convicted terrorist. you see, egyptian president mohammed morsi is coming to the united states in a few weeks and in an interview days ago, he made news when he repeated his demands that the united states release abdel-rahman, known as the blind sheik. this guy was convicted in connection with his role in the world trade center bombing in 1993 that killed six americans and injured thousands and he's serving down in north carolina. and while president morsi has been very vocal about the immediate for us to release him. we haven't heard anything from the administration really in response to these requests. new york congressman pete king is on the house homeland security committee and we thought we'd talk to him about it because you, too, are wondering where it's going. the white house has said before they have no plans to

release the blind sheik, but now, the new chairman of the committee is saying, they want a response from the obama administration to this latest demand being made by president morsi as he gets ready to visit the united states and we presume make this demand face-to-face with our president. >> yeah, the new chairman, mike mccall, is definitely following up on this. i know last september when the issue first came up, i was demanding answers from the administration and never really got them. what they said they had no plans to release him. they never out and out denied it and what i'm saying is that the president of egypt is bringing this to a presidential level then the president of the united states should state clearly, unequivocally that morsi will die in an american prison. that's the way to give it, not lawyer-like answers, not say there are no plans, not say there are have been no discussions, but come right out and say it because i know that the main reason i was raising this issue last fall. a number of people in federal law enforcement came to me and said they had reason to believe that this was being

planned. at least being contemplated, that arrangements were being made the possibility of a transfer. and that's why i raised the issue at that time and the administration never ever gave a firm denial. >> megyn: i mean, let me ask you this, let me ask you this, congressman. the people in this country i imagine think oh he's a convicted terrorist killed a bunch of americans and he's going to stay in prison, lucky all he got was a life sentence. this is a big deal in egypt, they love the blind sheik and to the point where their president, a member of the muslim brotherhood is being very public an interview on cnn planning to ask president obama personally about this, he wants him released and at minimum wants to know about his prison conditions and whether they can be improved and more humane because he's an old man. do you think any americans give a flying fig he's an old man and doesn't like his prison conditions? >> no, in fact, i agree with you. i think the only regret americans have is he's still alive. quite frankly. the president of the united states should not even consider or contemplate any

type of request like this, which is why the president, i believe president obama should cut this short right now, say he's going to die in an american prison, under better conditions than anyone in an egyptian prison and all human rights requirements, end of discussion right then and there. >> megyn: why would they consider this? why, why would they consider doing this? >> perhaps they feel it's a show of good faith on our part, they want to set up better negotiations or better relations with morsi. they did give a visa to one of his close associates last summer, came to the country and actually went to the white house and i still have not gotten answers why that happened. keeps getting referred back and forth homeland security to the justice department, from the state department was asked questions about the blind sheik at a-- by congressman back in december, he basically said that was a classified issue and no public statement made. so, all i can think of, this is part of the obama administration's somehow thinking if they reach out, you know, with the open hand that it's going to be

responded to and it will make relations better. i think it's nonsense. i think the last thing we should be doing with morsi, who's son by the way was involved-- i'm sorry, the blind sheik's son was involved in demonstrations in cairo back on september 11th, discussion's over. >> megyn: took to the streets in september, early september to try to get this guy out of prison and now we're told at a minimum they want his visitation privileges to be improved and this is the same guy who used his visitation privileges already to pass out anti-american propaganda and other islamic violent messages to his followers. >> absolutely, absolutely. >> megyn: hard to believe we would consider it. i guess we'll wait and see what the next official statement will be. pete king, thank you. >> and again, officials say to come from president obama, that's it, end it right now. >> megyn: got it. thanks for being here, sir. >> thank you, megyn. >> megyn: see you soon. well, today we're learning of a high stakes family feud after someone slipped a lethal dose of cyanide to a man who

won a million dollar lottery. told you about it yesterday. the battle that's now emerged between the wife, the brother and the son, as police look for a suspect in a whodunit with a seven-figure possible motive. ♪ [ male announcer ] some day, your life will flash before your eyes. make it worth watcng. introducing the 2013 lexus ls. an entirely new pursuit.

>> well, there's a dramatic new twist today in the murder mystery getting national attention as a feud now erupts between the relatives of the man who was murdered after he won the lottery. urooj khan died last july, one day after he received his big check for winning a million dollars scratch-off ticket and now his brother claims at that khan's wife not only tried to cash that check immediately, but that she isn't legally his wife. now, that would change things and khan's son seems to be

siding with his uncle. trace gallagher, that's interesting, because he didn't have a will. without a will the estate would have been split between the wife and the daughter i think he has and-- >> yes. >> megyn: but if she's not legally the wife she would not have gotten anything. >> reporter: yeah, wouldn't get half the money and the money right now is held in trust until they can figure this whole thing out, but the family really at war with the widow, if, as you say in fact, she really is the widow. the brother of urooj khan who died, of course, after collecting on his million dollar lotto ticket says that about four or five different times, the days after his death, the wife was feverishly going around trying to cash this check, she failed to cash it and the brother claims that this marriage that they so-called had in india, really is not legal and he wants the authorities to check that part out. now, the family feud gets worse because the sister of the lotto winner is now fighting for legal custody of the the 17-year-old daughter from an earlier marriage that

khan had, even though the girl has spent most of her life living with the stepmother. now, remember, it was two months after he died, the medical examiner ruled it was natural causes. you know, hard disease. the family pushed for a more thorough examination, that's when they discovered he died from cyanide poisoning shortly after eating dinner, that his wife prepared, but the wife's attorneys say that she has been very honest and very forthright. listen. >> she had nothing to do with this murder, if it is a murder which we don't even -- i can't draw that conclusion, based on what i've heard so far. they were already wealthy before he won the lottery. and she didn't have anything financially to gain by his death. >> reporter: he says wealthy, not really wealthy, but they were doing fine. he owned a chain of dry cleaners in the chicago area. medical examiner, by the way,

is hoping to exhume urooj khan's body and looking for a court order on that, that would happen in the next couple of weeks to perform a full autopsy which was never done because there was nothing suspicious about his death. and again, that money is now being held, not being given out to anybody, so a lot of the family members would like a little piece of it. >> megyn: here is the weird thing. like, for people who suspect the wife, 'cause look to the spouse, when one spouse has been murdered. if she knew they weren't legally married and he had no will, then, i mean, internet research-- search would have showed her that she was not going to get any money if he died. so that, i think this -- this deletes her motive to kill him. she is a married to him make ago living and now won this lottery. if he dies without a will, and they're not legally married, she's not going to get anything. >> reporter: yeah, her lawyers would dispute that a little bit, megyn, saying it's unclear right now what the laws are in illinois.

for instance, if she was married in california or common-law wife in california, then that would be in dispute. so it kind of depends what the law are. >> megyn: her civil lawyers, ones who are going to contest dispute in the estate context may have an argument with the criminal lawyers and people who want the money are going to argue what you just argued. it's an interesting case, trace, thanks. new numbers show that american taxpayers are now covering the cost of feeding one out of every four children in america. gosh. thanks to the recent explosion in food stamps. lou dobbs weighs in just ahead on worries whether a culture of dependency is now being passed to the next generation. and is president obama prepared to make another personnel announcement today? he's taking some heat because his last four cabinet nominees are all white men and they are replacing in some instances women. dana perino is here to discuss that along with how the president's team attacked mitt

romney just a couple of months ago on his record when it came to hiring women. >> when the next president and congress could tip the balance of the highest court in the land in a way that turns back the clock for women and families for decades to come. you don't want someone who needs to ask for binders of women. you don't want that guy. anybody know where flo is? are you flo? yes. is this the thing you gave my husband? well, yeah, yes. the "name your price" tool. you tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose from. careful, though -- that kind of power can go to your head. that explains a lot. yo, buddy! i got this. gimme one, gimme one, gimme one! the wer of the "name your price" tool. only from progressive.

>> fox news alert. we are now expecting a major personnel announcement at the white house. president obama is expected to nominate jack lew has the next treasury secretary. he would replace the current treasury secretary tim geithner. as president obama's second term cabinet begins to take shape. by the way, i'll tell you this is not without controversy. some republicans are saying it's not going to happen for jack lew, we don't know whether that's true, but this is not without controversy. they're not that excited about him. the president as he makes his announcement is taking heat from both sides of the aisle today for failing to nominate a single woman to replace the outgoing members of his cabinet. top members of his team who are leaving. the new york times even publishing this december 29th photo of an oval office meeting, you notice something in common, all of the folks standing around the president and advising him are white men. and suggesting that women are being underrepresented at the hi highest level of government. this week in response, the white house release add

similar oval offense meeting. there they are, shows a couple of women and they are advisors to the president. what's going on here? dana perino, a co-host of "the five" here on fnc, press secretary under president george w. bush, not a cabinet position, but a top advisor to the president, president obama does not have a female press secretary either. is this fair or unfair? >> well, someone sent me that photograph that the new york times ran of the men and they asked me, do you notice anything in this photo. the first thing i noticed no one is wearing a tie and the tie was a requirement in the bush white house, had to wear a tie in the oval office if you're going in and pointed out look, there's no women. okay, well, we all know there's women that work in the the white house, valerie jarrett, melanie barnes was one, i don't know if she's still there. as for the high profile appointment, i can see why some on the left are complaining there are not enough women being nominate today high level position and two more are leaving, epa

administrator lisa jackson and hilda solis of the labor department announcing she's leaving as well. the big positions in the cabinet are not-- >> hillary clinton is not getting replaced by a woman and secretary of defense is not a woman. now people are asking whether this is hypocritical of barack obama who, along with his vice-president, were merciless in going after mitt romney who had a lot of women as top advisors as governor of massachusetts, that's undisputed. he had women in power, but made the bone-headed comment at the debate binders of women and wanted to find top women to advise them and go out, we had binders of women, and what seemed to me binders of women's names to select from. he got skewered, remember this, here is obama and biden. >> ladies and gentlemen, on

tuesday, when governor romney was asked a direct question he in the last debate whether or not women deserve equal pay for equal work, what was his answer? binders, he started talking about binders. binders. binders of qualified women that he learned were out there. he learned they're out there. >> when the next president and congress could tip the balance of the highest court in the land in a way that turns back the clock for women and families for decades to come, you don't want someone who needs to ask for binders of women. you don't want that guy. >> well, i agree with president obama ap the white house that they should be be able to nominate or appoint people they think are the best qualified. if none of the women in their circle or in their so-called

binder fits that description, so be it. but then they might think about do they have another problem, which is let's just take me as an example. i was not ready to be press secretary before i was. and in the first term, i worked as a spokesperson at the justice department, environmental quality office and i helped out the press office and then i moved to the deputy press secretary position and then moved up. corporate america has an even worse record than government when it comes to promoting women to high levels of power. if you're looking at something like the justice department or let's just say the defense department is a better example, there are women that are going to be ready to do those jobs because inform' had the experience, thanks to the last 20, 25 years of being able to move up. up until then they weren't ready yet. that could be an argument they make, instead release the photo from the oval office, we have women, too, some of our best friends. >> megyn: which is true, valerie garrett, his closest advisor. >> they could say they're the

ones that perpetrated the war on women. when romney said that, i did not think there were enough women in leadership positions at the companies we were buying and request i ask for resume's to promote them. some of his closest friends and advisors that helped on his campaign are ones that he promoted 25 years ago into position of leadership. >> megyn: does the president need to lead by example when it it comes to placing women in positions of power? is there some greater obligation? if the women aren't there he considers most qualified for the position, these are important positions, why should he appoint somebody he thinks is not the most qualified. is there a question of needing to lead by example. >> they could point to the supreme court nominees and say they're wait a minute. >> megyn: janet napolitano homeland security. >> when it comes to the point of compare administrations, the bush administration to the obama administration. there wasn't a question of whether or not women were represented well in high leadership position ins that administration because we just were. we were just mapphappened to be

there. i think that president obama could work harder to find people that he could promote. michelle portnoy defense department, well regarded on both sides of the aisle and the defense department. she could have been a person to promote that instead after former republican, or a republican. >> megyn: we're minutes away from the president coming out and listen about jack lew. on the other side we want to talk about this, they suggest there's a culture of sort after old boy's network at the white house right now. is that connected? we'll talk about that after this. watch this. >> good afternoon everybody, please have a seat. a little more than four years ago i stood with mr. tim geithner and announced him as my first nominee to my cabinet. we were barely two months into the financial crisis, the stock market had cratered, the housing market had cratered as well. bank after bank was on the

verge of collapse and worst of all more than 800,000 americans would lose their jobs in just that month. and the bottom was not yet in sight. so, i couldn't blame tim when he tried to tell me he wasn't the right guy for the job. but i knew that tim's extensive experience with economic policy made him imminently qualified and i also knew that he could hit the ground running. as chairman of the new york federal reserve he had just spent several sleepless and chaotic weeks immersed in the complexity of the crisis and had been working closely with his republican predecessor at treasury to save the financial system. then, with the wreckage of our economy still smoldering and unstable, i asked him to help put it back together. thanks in large part to his steady hand, our economy has been growing again for the past three years, our businesses have created nearly

6 million new jobs, the money that we sent to save the financial system have largely been paid back. we put in place rules to prevent that kind of financial meltdown from ever happening again. an auto industry was saved. we made sure taxpayers are not on the hook, if the biggest firms fail again. we've taken steps to help underwater home owners come up for air and opened new markets to sell americans goods overseas and we've begun to reduce our deficit through a balanced mix of spending cuts and reforms to attack those at the time that we both came in was too skewed in favor of the wealthy at the expense of middle class americans. so when the history books are written, tim geithner's going to go down as one of our finest secretaries of the treasury. [applause]

[applause] >> don't embarrass him. on a personal note, tim has been a wonderful friend and a dependable advisor throughout these last four years. you know, there's an unofficial saying over at treasury, no peacocks, no jerks, no whiners. that would be a good saying for all of washington. no peacocks, no jerks, no whiners. few embody that ideal better than tim geithner. that's why when tim was thinking about leaving a

couple of years ago, i had to personally get on my knees with carol to help convince him to stay on a little bit longer, and i could not be more grateful to carol and the entire geithner family for allowing him to make the sacrifices that so many of our cabinet members ask of their families in serving the country. the fact is, while a lot of work remains, especially to rebuild a strong middle class and offer working folks new path ways to rise into the middle class, our economy is better positioned for tomorrow than most of those other countries hit by the financial crisis. the tough decisions tim made and carried out deserve a lot of credit for that. so, i understand that tim is ready for a break. obviously, we're sad to see him go, but i cannot think of a better person to continue tim's work at treasury than

jack lew. now, this is bittersweet not only because tim is leaving, but also, because jack's been my chief of staff for the last year. he was my budget director before that. i trust his judgment, i value his friendship, i know very he few people with greater integrity than the man to my left. so i don't want to see him go because it's working out really well for me to have him here in the white house, but my loss will be the nation's gain. jack has the distinction of having worked and succeeded in some of the toughest jobs in washington and the private sector. as a congressional staffer in the 1980's he helped negotiate the deal between president reagan and tip o'neill to save social security. under president clinton he presided over three budget surpluses in a row. so for the all the talk out

there about deficit reduction and making sure our books were balanced this is the guy who did it three times. he helped overhe see one of our nation's finest universities and largest investment banks. in my administration, he's managed operations for the state department and the budget for the entire executive branch. and over the past year, i've sought jack's advice on virtually every decision i've made from economic policy to foreign policy. now, one reason jack has been so effective in this town is because he is a low key guy, who prefers to surround himself with policy experts rather than television cameras. and over the years, he's built a reputation as a master of policy who can work with members of both parties and forge principled compromises. and maybe most importantly, as the son of a polish immigrant, a man of deep and devout faith, jack knows that every number on the page, every dollar we budget, every decision we make, has to be an expression of who we wish to be as a nation, our values.

values that say everybody gets a fair shot at opportunity. and says that we expect all of us to fulfill our individual obligations as citizens. jack has my complete trust. i know i'm not alone in that. in the words of one former senator, having lew on your team is equivalent as a coach of having the luxury of putting somebody in almost any position and knowing he will do well. i could not agree more. i hope the senate will confirm him as quickly as possible. i want to personally thank both of these men and their families, especially carol and ruth, for their extraordinary service to our country and with that, i'd like to invite them to say a few words, starting with tim. >> mr. president, it's been a privilege to serve you. i'm honored and grateful that you asked me to do this,

really, i am. and i'm very proud of what my colleagues at treasury and your economic team was able to help you accomplish these first four years. when you stepped into this building as president, you were confronted with a world in crisis, the worst crisis in generations, and you made the necessary, the hard, the politically perilous choices that saved the american people, saved american industry, saved the global economy, from a failing financial system and your successful response to that crisis, of course, did not solve all the nation's challenges. it could not have done so. but the actions you took, along with those of a forceful and creative federal reserve, have made the country stronger and have put us in a much better position to face the many challenges still ahead of us, and they are many. i have the greatest respect for jack lew, know him as a man of exceptional judgment,

calm under pressure, with an extraordinary record of accomplishment and experience, over decade spent at the center of american economic policy. he's committed to defending the elderly and the poor, he understands what it takes to create the condition for stronger economic growth and broader economic opportunity and he understands that to govern responsibly is to govern with a recognition we have limited fiscal resources. now, like jack, i've spent my professional life in this world of public policy and public service. and as all of you know, our families carry a large share of the burdens we assume in public life and i feel incredibly fortunate that my wife, carol, and my family have been willing to allow me to do this. and i thank them for their support and their patience and i understand their occasional

impatience. i want to express my admiration and my appreciation for the women and the men of the treasury department. those who came to serve you these years of crisis, and the civil servants of the treasury with whom i first started working in 1988. they are exceptionally talented and honorable public servants, i'm very proud of what they have helped you accomplish and i am confident that my successor will find them the extraordinary asset they are to the nation. and i also hope that americans will look at the challenges we face today and decide, as many of you in this room have, that in spite of the divisive state of our country today, it was rewarding and compelling work. that was my experience. and i'm grateful and always will be grateful to having the

opportunity to serve you as the 76th secretary of the treasury. [applause] >> mr. president, it has been my honor to serve as your chief of staff and before that, at the state department. it's really been a privilege to come to work every day as part of a team that's dedicated to building a sound economy and a safer world. tim, you've been a friend and a colleague for many years. actually decades. and the american people are better off for your outstanding service. and you know, i thought i knew you pretty well, but only yesterday that i discovered that we both share a common challenge with penmanship.

(laughter) >> tim, i join the president and everyone here in wishing you and carol and your whole family well. as a kid growing up in queens, i had dreams of making a difference in the world. these dreams were nurtured in a home where the gifts of american freedom and opportunity were cherished and never taken for granted. and the responsibility to engage in issues of public concern were part of daily life. i will always be grateful to my parents for grounding me with the values that have remained central to my personal and professional life. i grew up professional in the office of speaker o'neill, whose compass was always clear and who demanded unvarnished advice how to reach a destination. mr. o'neill cared little about your age or rank, but the hard decisions for the day. he took a chance giving a lot of responsibility to a very young man and for that i'll always be thankful. serving at omb first under president clinton and more recently in this

administration, i worked with one of the finest teams in the government to he is cute a responsible fiscal policy while advances policies to he promote economic growth. i'm delighted to see so many of my friends from omb here today. at the state department i worked closely with our great secretary of state my friend hillary clinton to advance our nation's national security agenda, including our international economic policy. and as chief of staff, i've had the pleasure of working with a tremendously talented white house team which manages policy, politics, communications, and complex orangeses every day with grace, skill and loyalty. if confirmed, i look forward to joining the treasury department whose people are legendary for their skill and knowledge it's a team i've collaborated with closely over many years and come to respect greatly. finally, thank you to ruth, and the kids for your endless tolerance with the demands of the schedule, the tests all families face. and thank you, mr. president, for your trust, confidence and

friendship. serving in your administration has allowed me to live out those values my parents instilled in me. and i look forward to continuing with the challenge. [applause] [applause] >> these are two outstanding public servants and i think the only point that i want to make, leave you with, is the fact that i'd never noticed jack's signature and when this was highlighted yesterday in the press, i considered rescinding-- (laughter) my offer to appoint him. jack assures me that he's going to work to make at least

one letter ledgeable in order not to deface our currency should he be confirmed as secretary of the treasury. thank you very much. everybody. [applause] >> and there you have it. our outgoing treasury secretary and the man president obama would like to be our incoming treasury secretary. the signature has been a funny item discussed in and outside of d.c. in recent days. it was funny to hear the president address that, but he was saying that he wants to see jack lew get confirmed as quickly as possible, saying that jack lew has his complete trust. as i mentioned, this may be a battle. it may be a bit of a battle because some top folks are raising objections to jack lew who made his fair share of enemies in his time of chief of staff and we'll see how that proceeds. dana perino is still here with us. now we have it, it's official, another white male appointed to the cabinet and we were talking about this during the

break. is it -- are we in an uncomfortable place we look the at the top cabinet people saying, women or not? minorities or not? and judging them by that? is that, is that in and of itself sort of affront to women. when we deserve to be there in mass numbers, we'll be there in mass numbers. or a situation in the country where women are still moving up the the halls of power? we haven't been, you know, equal pay or close to it, and in circles of power and we look at law schools and med schools for that long. we're still trekking upward. >> yes, so a lot of, i think back to my great-grandmother, who wasn't allowed to vote, but raised nine children on her cattle ranch, takes over the business, does all of these amazing things and fights for the rights to vote and the women before us did. and deedee meyers first woman to serve as white house press secretary and in her book "why women should rule the world",

talks about how that history leads up, but it hasn't been that long where women have been able to rise to power, now-- >> i think when graduated from high school-- i mean, graduated from college i think there were four women in the u.s. senate. >> four women in the u.s. senate 1992. >> i was quite happy being the deputy myself and maybe in my nature initially, but it took president bush to have confidence in me to be able to pull me up and say, i think you can do this. or i know that you can do this and then he told the press that i could. and government has been a place where women could rise up the ladder much faster than in corporate america. if you look at some of the-- let's not look at the cabinet positions, but just under that, there's women, especially civil servants who have been in government, chose that as a career, across the board there are women rising up. but, there are-- women are different, you've got two young kids. there's a push and a pull. >> megyn: hard to strike a balance. >> you're very good at what you do in your career, very

good at home. women are stretching themselves in all sorts of directions, trying to be all things to all people at all times and you get tired. and because-- >> and we have different priorities. >> we have different priorities. >> you can't blame it all on the system of oppression because women make different choices. i mean, i look at a lot of male colleagues that i know, not here, but just in business who don't see their kids monday through friday, come into the city, work long hours, see their kids on the weekends. that's not an acceptable choice for me. i would never choose a job that requires that of me and so i would never, if i were in their industry, i would never ascend to the top. is government like that, working at the white house like that? >> well tcan be, it's very much all-consuming. i remember talking to somebody in the clinton administration, getting advice what i should do after the white house and said how are you doing, six months. i said i'm great. i'll really good. >> he said are you rested? >> i said, yeah, i think so. >> he said baloney, because i'm still not. and it does take a few years to get off of that, the

treadmill and everything, find something else that you want to do. >> megyn: you were telling me during the break that president bush gave a directive the beginning of his term? >> andy card was the first chief of staff and as they were setting up the white house and there's lots of women who were in charge, including dina powell, who is now at goldman sachs, but ran president bush personnel decision, one. things that bush said to card, don't run off all of my young mothers and that's recounted in karen hughes' book and it's called, that's called ten minutes from normal. she talks about how, yes, she wanted to be at the white house, but then when blackberries came around, you go into the kitchen and hide under the counter, your blackberry, like responding at 11 p.m. and it's-- that's a lot of women are experiencing that all across the board. families all over, i don't want to say that men don't make sacrifices as well. you get on a plane today, the planes are full. and it's people who are having to travel for business. monday through friday and they make the weekend, you know, as good as they can get it and that's one. things that from the partisan

discussion in the country what kind of country are we going to have and how much are we willing to pay for it. how much money should you have in your own pocket to make your own decisions? i think about those people on that's planes. yes of course we need government, but we also need to be able to take care of our families. >> megyn: we will continue to follow-up. and interesting to see who he picks to replace jack lew as far as chief of staff. so far the names out there are all white men, but that could change. dana, thanks, see you tonight on "the five". another story breaking in washington. word we're a few days away from the president getting sweeping recommendations on new gun control laws and the talk heats up that the administration may use executive orders to change the rules for america's gun owners and we begin the brand new hour of "america live." welcome again, i'm megyn kelly. and the vice-president joe biden wrapping up a series of meetings with various groups from all spectrums including.

n.r.a. one day after mr. biden suggested president obama could change gun laws by executive orders rather than going through congress. how that might work, chief political correspondent, carl cameron. >> it's a hurry up offense. megyn. the vice-president today said, as we reported yesterday he'll make his recommendations on this coming tuesday, way before the president's deadline at the end of the month which means his recommendations will be delivered to mr. obama on the first day of the president's second term. biden did alarm gun owners yesterday when he reiterated the president's ability to use executive orders to curb gun violence without specifying how. a lot of folks think that might be creation of a national data base to track welcomes, not an actual gun ban, but it still got people very upset and today biden took a somewhat softer tone when he met with sportsman earlier today. and he says he believes common ground can be found and a great deal can be done without imposing or impinging on the

rights of second amendment guarantees, but gun control foes and sports enthusiasts aren't buying a word of it. and the house committee, biggest conservatives among house republicans today, he said that vice-president biden would do well to read the second amendment and revisit the meaning of the phrase shall not be infringed. bypassing congress to implement radical policies is never acceptable and it's particularly hine nuss when such actions trample on the freedoms guaranteed to all americans by the bill of rights. so, the battle lines are clearly drawn here, the n.r.a. and gun manufacturers, and retailers will be motoring with the vice-president's task force later this afternoon and then tonight, he'll meet with the entertainment industry, the directors guild, various movie groups and entertainment and tomorrow, a meeting with video game manufacturers, a lot of discussion, particularly from second amendment backers there have to be increased emphasis on culture, not just on

regulating weapons as if that's going to be a panacea that will solve all the problems, megyn. >> megyn: carl, thank you. so, what is the legal and press sent for doing this. i don't know why we fox news alerted our tease, he's very important, but in any event we're going to ask him, can the president do this? executive order? you know, around the margins of the second amendment? what does the law allow? and steve hays here about the possible political fallout of him doing this as an end around congress. we'll talk about moments away. obviously, it's going to be an important discussion. an update now to the school shooting in southern california that we told you about earlier in the hour. we've got new video from the scene as authorities say one student was shot and injured. now, that student has been flown to a hospital in bakersfield, so now we've been updated and earlier we were told it was two students, or two people shot and now they're saying it was a student and it was one student. we don't have any word on that student's condition. we're told the suspect is in

custody. a sheriff's department spokesman says that person is also believed to be a student. the shooting happened at taft union high school, local reporters say people inside the school hid in closets during the attack. oh. and from georgia, we are getting some dramatic 911 tapes in a frightening home invasion making headlines in the middle this have week's and last week's gun debate. captured the moments as the bullets fly and a georgia's mother's quick thinking and sharp aim saved her family. elizabeth prann with that part of the coverage. >> reporter: yeah, the intruder, police say, now there were family members inside the door with a crowbar. the mother, melinda herman was inside with her nine-year-old twins and she signaled them quietly and calling her husband at work at the time. the 911 phone call which we're going to play for you, between the operator and the husband on the phone with his wife and the operator and i want you to take a listen to it, because

you can hear him coaxing his wife and keeping her calm through the incident. take a listen. . >> he's he in the bedroom? shhh relax. . >> and what we have is from 2008. police say she shot herman five times in the the face and chest area and he did manage to drive away despite the fact that he was shot, but his car only made it a block away and police found him bleeding and

begging for help. >> i heard a the lot of screaming. >> right. >> i'm sure she's upset. >> no, she was shooting. >> right, right. >> i heard him pleading, he was, he was screaming. >> reporter: police tell us slater remains in icu and we know that the mother and children although shaken up, they were unharmed during this incident, megyn. >> megyn: wow, that's chilling. elizabeth, thanks. >> reporter: yep. >> megyn: well, we're getting new numbers from the f.d.a. today, showing american taxpayers are now covering the cost of feeding one in every four american children. the number of food stamp recipients exploding. in 1969 nearly 3 million individuals were on food assistance and today that number jumping to nearly 45 million. are we now seeing a culture of dependency being passed on to another generation. joining me now, fox business networks lou dobbs tonight, on

fbn. lou, your heart goes out to the families, you think of the poor children needing food stamps to eat and nutrition, and americans understanding they need help, but the numbers are concerns. >> they're concerning. they've moved up. under this president there's a political portion to that, because the nutritional program, the food stamp program is now just, it's overwhelmed. and we're watching the cost of running the program double the rate of inflation. there are many problems here. the first problem is we have that many americans in need. and i think it's interesting that the republicans are taking on this issue, from the standpoint of we've got to fix this. we've got to change this. when the reality is that the change has been with this administration. there needs to be a debate about why it's occurring, but when one in four children are involved in this program, we've got a major problem and we should have a national

discussion about it. >> i know, you believe our society is changing right now in ways we haven't seen since the great depression, why? >> it's changing because the american dream has now, it is fragile, it is diminishing for millions of americans. we have people who will never find work again. people talk. they're very quick it use this expression, the new normal, when they talk about slow economic growth, when they talk about being, millions of people being jobless. we still have 23 million americans who don't have work or who are under-- are working at a job that, for which they are, well, twice as qualified as would otherwise be the case. we have a group of people who are in deep pain and we have a nation who is talking about immigration, gun control, just about every issue you can imagine except how to restore the american dream. it's maddening. the republicans are worrying about the food stamp program? they should be talking about how to restore the american dream. how to restore prosperity.

it doesn't begin and end with a child nutrition program. >> megyn: here is my other question, does it begin and end with barack obama? because a lot of people, his detractors believe he's fundamentally changing the country, but is it bigger than him? >> he said indeed that he would fundamentally transform the country and it is changing. not just because of his policies, but right now, we're looking at a collapse in what had been the contract between, well, employers and workers, between government and the people. look at what's happening with churches and other institutions. this is transcendental and we've got to have a party, one of them has to have the guts to stand up and say, look, this is about the american dream, it's about a 200-year tradition of can-do. and what we're witnesses is some can and some can't and let there be a divide that remains. >> megyn: how do we get those children past that through no-fault of their own, their

parents aren't earning enough money and we're giving it and how do we get them to the point that was a bridge and i'm going to stand on my own two feet as an adult. >> neither one of these two parties want to acknowledge, neither the republicans or democrats, the greatest equalizer in our society is and always has been public education. the democrats allowed control of our schools, and the republicans permitted the idea that a magnet school, or a charter school is an adequate replacement for engaged, well-paid, focused teachers who act at the direction of their local school district, not the national education association or the national federation of teachers or any other union. we have-- >> about that fight there. >> and we have so many disconnects and the penalty is found in the drop-out rate of this country. they are an absolute disgrace

and we have educators, secretary of education, karen lewis in chicago, leading the the employees union, they are a disgrace because they're acting as if they have the problem in hand. meanwhile, school districts are going bankrupt, the teachers' organization admit they're working for themselves and not for the students, and the parents are not engaged in the teaching of those young people, who are our future. >> megyn: but it's the point that knowledge is power and better educated the children are whether they're on public assistance or not, the better off they'll be in the future, a decent area for focus, how well are they being educated. lou, thanks. >> great to be with you. >> megyn: well, as vice-president biden meets with hunters, gun dealers and the n.r.a., there are new questions about mr. biden suggesting yesterday the president is going to change our gun laws at least in part by executive order rather than working through the congress. jay and steve hayes are next on the politics and law behind that. plus, liberal talk show host

bill maher recently attacked donald trump with an accusation and a 5 million dollar bet, if he would release his birth certificate, whatever. now, trump says that he has met maher's challenge, that he has won the bet and says he will sue maher if he doesn't get the promised 5 million dollar check. kelly's court is going to take this on and see whether maher may have made a promise he shouldn't have on the late night talk circuit. and just last night, an asteroid the size of a skyscraper passed near the earth at incredible speed. shows why scientists are more concerned about this threat than any other asteroid that passed our way in recent years. ♪ i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade.

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>> the president is going to act on executive orders, executive action that can be taken. we haven't decided with an it is yet, but we're compiling it all with the help of the attorney general and rest of the cabinet members and the legislative action we believe is required. >> megyn: well, that was vice-president biden yesterday stating that the administration might circumvent congress on gun control to some extent and that's creating controversy, one congressman responded by saying vice-president biden would do well to read the second amendment and revisit the phrase "shall not be infringed" joining me now steve hays, weekly standard and fox news contributor and jay is chief for center of law and justice. jay, let me start with you on this. the research that we've looked at suggests that he's got some leeway to curtail some gun rights by executive order if he so chooses.

what say you? >> i don't think so. >> megyn: no? >> the second amendment rights have been pretty clear and i think the idea that you can utilize an executive order to implement restrictions on that right not through a legislative process, by just executive fiat, i don't think that's going to work constitutionally. i think that would be a very difficult challenge. it's different if you have legislation passed by congress that could somehow regulate this and then the white house would simply, you know, issuing regulations off them. >> megyn: wait, wait, let me jump in, let me jump in. that may be the difference that we're talking about because i looked back. the research suggested that when george h.w. bush was president back in 1989, he used executive order to ban the import of assault weapons using his powers under the the gun control act of 1968 that stipulated that legal rifles had to be suitable for sporting purposes. so he did it that way using the 1968 gun control act law. but, you know, it begs the question, could barack obama do the same thing?

>> i don't think -- that law -- we don't know what the president wants to do yet, but assuming it's going to be significant restrictions and restraints, i don't think you can use that law from 1968 to implement an executive order that would do anything other than comply with existing law. i mean, when you talk about what president george h.w. bush did, he did use the '68 law, but we don't know what the president is proposing yet. but you listened to vice-president biden and forboding experience. we're talking about the second amendment to the united states constitution. if it's the first amendment the president can't say i don't like that, the i'm going to have an executive order, freedom of press, not going to use it. >> megyn: when you're using an executive order you're he arguably trying to modify one of the bill of rights. that makes people feel a little uncomfortable depending which side we're on and which right we're talking about and steve, that's the political risk to the president, even though a lot of people are very shall very adamant about, you know, restricting gun

rights now, especially in the wake of newtown, there are millions of others on the other side who say, guns didn't commit that act, a person committed that act and there's no reason you need to be talking about guns right now. >> you're absolutely right and i think you look at the population, it's a shrinking population, but the population of democrats from red states both the house and senate, those are the people the president are going to have to convince to go along with whatever proposals you're coming up with, i think you'll get resistance not only from the house of representatives expected to oppose the president on issues he pursuing legislatively, but also members of his own party who have been guns rights supporters in the past and they span, by the way, not just the democrats you would think of, the democrats from the red or purple states who one might social with strong proponents of gun rights, but also people like a harry reid who for the most part is a liberal democrat, but has been a friend of the n.r.a., more or less, going back several years. somebody like pat leahy also

has been a proponent of gun rights. >> megyn: and jay, to stop the government from interfering with an individual's right to bear arms, it was meant to prevent, you know, exactly this kind of thing where lawmakers are trying to mess with somebody's firearm ownership. >> exactly. >> megyn: but the people on the other side say that the founders never could have envisioned a country in which we had 300 million guns and you know, high capacity magazines and semi automatic weapons. does it matter? >> well, no, it doesn't. because you don't get to modify the constitution of the united states because technology has changed. you know, the regulations that are in place on gun ownership vary from state to state and requirements to carry permits. they're legal retirements to be put in place, but you cannot do an executive fiat to infringe on the rights in the way that the court would deem

to be unconstitutional. the wiggle room that they have i think is nonexistent. it's interesting, no legislation proposed. megyn, here we go again. no legislation, what do we do executive fiat and what stephen says, it's not just the republicans that have trouble with this, it will be the democrats. >> megyn: no legislation, yes. >> very, very concerned. >> megyn: but that's the thing, steve, if he does it with the congress's blessing, he's he got coverage, he doesn't have to run for reelection, but he wants the pave the way for another democrat in the oval office, there are risks if he doesn't have congressional support. >> i'm not sure that the president is thinking about democratic successes at this point, i think he's thinking about himself and what's immediately in front of him and he's he coming out of the last election that he's got to mandate who the country can elect. after all the guy campaigns going into the 2012 election as a progressive candidate, a strong progressive candidate and if you look at his record and the way he conducted

himself in the first term, passing stimulus with democratic votes, forcing health care through congress with democratic votes and then after the 2010 elections which was a rebuke to the president, he didn't then turn to the center, he campaigned by catering to his base. >> megyn: got to leave it at that. heart break now, guys, good job. coming up scary asteroid. heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. ♪ [ male announcer ] don't just reject convention. drown it out. introducing e all-new 2013 lexus ls f sport. an entirely new pursuit.

♪ >> well, a killer asteroid just passed over our planet. what's it called? it's named off an egyptian god of darkness and chaos and whizes past the either every

couple of decades threatening the doomsday scenario and the next time it slides by, scientists say it's going to be much closer to delivering. trace gallagher is live in our west coast bureau, but maybe not for much longer. >> reporter: not for long. the greek god of ancient evil pushed by the planet last night. okay, 9 million miles away, still close to get a glimpse of it. this is important because this thing is dangerous. the reason they call it the doomsday asteroid is because it flies by our planet again in 2029, but that time, instead of 9 million miles, it's only 22,000 miles away and scientists say that that's actually just an estimate. many actually thought in 2026, it had almost a 3% chance of colliding with earth. now, they believe it has no chance at all in 2029, but it comes back again in 2036 and because this thing is so affected by temperature, and

gravitational pull, it truly could be on a collision course with this planet in 2036. and that's bad because it's travelling at some 9,000 miles per hour. and because they got such a good look at this thing, check this out. they got a closer look and always thought this thing was 836 feet in diameter. well, now they know, megyn, it's 1,066 feet in diameter and that's a 20% increase in diameter, but check this out. that's a 75% increase in mass. that means it is much, much bigger than they ever thought it would be, at 9,000 miles per hour coming to a neighborhood near you in 2036, it's a bad scenario. >> out of curiosity could you be more specific where it's likely to hit? >> not the west coast because we don't do to asteroids, we do earthquakes. new york does things like asteroids and the big stuff. >> megyn: the northern

hemisphere, north america, could you narrow it down. not that we don't care, but don't we have the technology to shoot that thing out of the sky as close as 9,000 miles to us? >> no. i mean, this is a beast. i mean, this thing is like, it's a thousand feet wide and that's in diameter. >> can't you call the guys at nasa and tell them to work on an asteroid buster? don't we have at that in the work? >> i'll call jbl. >> megyn: seems like something we want to work on and talk about it all the time and every time they're getting closer. thank you, trace. one week after middle class americans started complaining about small are paychecks thanks to the social security tax hike, the white house is calling for another tax hike, ahead, what they want and who may pay the price. and donald trump in a dust-up with liberal comic bill maher. maher presented trump with a 5 million dollar offer. he said he'd pay him 5 million dollars if he could prove he was not the son of an

orangutan. guess what? trump has proven it and now he wants maher to pay up. does he have the legal right to make him do it? kelly's court investigates. ( bell rings ) they remind me so much of my grandkids.

wish i saw mine more often, but they live so far away. i've been thinking about moving in with my daughter and her family. it's been pretty tough since jack passed away. it's a good thing you had life insurance through the colonial penn program.

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our position is what it was. >> megyn: that was press secretary jay carney yesterdayesterday doubling down on plans torre duesing the nation's debt are going to have to include more taxes. a week after almost three quarters of american workers saw their paychecks take a hit. in many cases because of a 2% social security tax hike. joining me now simon rosenburg, founder of the new democrat network and a campaign advisor to president bill clinton. and michael grant, a columnist for the boston herald and radio talk show host. gentlemen, welcome. so this 77% of americans who got hit with the social security increase, that tax increase, there's been a lot of talk about that, it feels you can't go anywhere without people saying, i thought it was just the rich and being surprised that everybody was hit, everybody was hit, income taxes went up on the rich, but everybody got hit with the social security tax. i'm start with you on this,

michael, whether you think, the population is feeling a little like, wait a minute, i thought it was just going to be the rich and it turned out to be me. whether there is a political will to get another round of tax increases done in washington? >> megyn, don't you remember the mi 2 k push, what are we going to do with the 2000 we're going to take from richie rich and give to you? the message of the obama campaign, let me go tax evil rich people and it's nothing, but unicorns and fairy dust for the rest of us. that's not true. and the worst part is president obama got the tax hike he wanted. he offered no cuts then and nows' going to come back and say we've already had the cuts. there are no cuts. how do you make the case that a, i misled you on what the tax hike could accomplish and, b, we're still not going to cut. the last time we did balance was the fiscal cliff deal. all taxes no cuts. >> megyn: simon, what do you think of it? i know president obama wants to continue raising taxes on the rich. and he doesn't think that he's

done yet. but americans may not buy the argument that this is just about the rich, given what we just saw happen on january 1st, with everybody taxed. >> let's see what happens. and i think that right now, jay carney laid it out. i think the president has already put a lot of spending cuts on the table. he's already accepted a trillion dollars of domestic spending cuts. i think you'll see a lot of emphasis in the next few months reducing the cost of medicare and medicaid, the rate of grow of health care in the united states. i think defense will probably be -- they'll be looking at defense cuts more than in the sequestration, maybe less. the democrats have put a lot of spending cuts on the table and the democrats didn't get all the tax increases that they want. the president took a number that was much lower than he negotiated. i think the president will layout a budget in a couple of weeks and the republicans led by paul ryan will pass a budget in the house and

hopefully we'll have regular order and two parties come together and fight it out and make a significant down payment toward deficit reduction. >> simon, could you name some of the spending cuts. the trillion dollar of spending cuts. what are some of the spending cuts? help me out with that. >> they lowered the number for all domestic spending, right, the number was lowered and what the congress is going to have to do now-- >> no, no, baseline that was adjusted, i'm sorry the baseline was adjusted and it presumes higher spending and then reduced the presumption of higher spending. how about the money they cut from the the troops in iraq. wait a minute, the troops in iraq left last year, the fact is there are no cuts, you know it. fiscal cliff deal increased net spending zero-- that's not true. >> megyn: but i want to keep the focus on taxes for now if we could. how high can they go, simon. the so-called rich in this country, they're now paying 39.6% in income taxax to the federal government plus they've got a .8% income tax

hike thanks to obamacare and they got this 2% payroll tax put back on them and plus, now, they have high state taxes and city taxes and well over 50% in taxes and making 45 cents on the dollar that they earn. how much is too much? i mean, in your view, on the rich? >> i think we're going to find out this year through negotiations. i mean, right now where things stand. >> megyn: what's your thought on it? >> well, i think my thought is that we're going to -- this is going to be negotiated, right? i mean, i don't think it's up to simon rosen berg as much as i'd like to dictate to everybody what happens this year, the critical thing is that, you know, right now in terms of gdp we're taking about, we're taking 17 to 18% of gdp and revenue and spending, 20, 21% and by historical margin we're not spending -- the country is not actually spending that much money, particularly given the size of the defense expenditures right now. we've got to get revenue up and we've got to get spending down. >> megyn: where do you get the revenue?

where do you get the revenue from? because when simon was advising president bill clinton, bill clinton was satisfied with these rates that the rich would pay the 39.6%. apparently the democrats now, michael, want to raise them even higher and the question is, 'cause it's not just federal taxes as all the viewers who work know. you've got to pay state and city in a lot of cases, property taxes on top of that and so on. >> sure. >> megyn: just in terms of income tax, there are millions of people in this country now who are well over 50% in taxes and psychologically is that not a bar, even for people who are not rich, you know, how much is too much? >> well, if you're part of the 47% that pays nothing in federal income taxes, you don't care how high that number goes and that's part of the divisive politics the white house is engaged in. they've divided it. it's interesting you mentioned bill clinton era tax rates. a handful of democrats voted for the bush tax cuts. the vast majority voted to keep the tax rates higher on the middle class when simon was working with bill clinton. almost all of democrats flipped, all against the bill

clinton rates for the middle class and that's where the money is, if you're going to keep spending, i'm sorry, simon, the number is close to 23.8% on the spending rates that president obama proposed. and keep that 30% higher than the norm, i'm sorry you're going to have to go to the middle class and get that money, too, the rich don't have that much money. >> megyn: that's the thing, the revenue can't get it all from the rich, even if they went back and said, well he, we've protected people over 250 to 450, that's 200,000, protected them. even if they went back now, simon and said we're not going to protect them. actually we're going to hike their taxes, too, it's not going to do it. even if you raise the taxes on everybody 250 and over, another what, 2 percentage points and keep in mind some discussion of raising the social security tax we pay, too, because social security it in trouble in the 2020's and making up the difference. they're talking about raising all of these taxes and i'm wondering on the left whether there's a perception that there is a number beyond we cannot go. i know that bernie has been on the program saying between 75 and 85% income tax is fine

with him. >> the president said the rates are not going higher than they are now. he said that repeatedly. he said he wanted to go back to the clinton tax rates and i think the area looked at this year, the area where republicans have already indicated a lot of interest, which is in closing loopholes that weren't closed during the fiscal cliff. >> megyn: but they offered that has an alternative to raising the tax rates. >> i understand, i understand. but in the simpson-bowles, proposal, for example, which everybody says was a great idea, it closed a lot of tax loopholes for wealthy people. >> megyn: but president obama rejected that, simon, rejected that. the republicans offered the loophole closures which would have brought in more revenue and he rejected that because he wanted the rate. >> megyn, it wouldn't have brought in more revenue. the reason, remember, he compromised. he didn't get everything he wanted on it. >> megyn: i know that. >> so. >> megyn: what i said was true. >> i know, but it's not-- you don't get more money through closing loopholes. >> megyn: you would have. >> raising rates-- >> he would have gotten more money with the deal the republicans were proposing, he rejected it, he wanted the

rates higher. >> megyn, that's not true, week debate that for a long time. go ahead, go ahead, michael. >> megyn, the rates are always going to be higher. the fiscal cliff deal was, we'll raise taxes and cut spending, what did they do, raised taxes no cutting spending and hey, we have to raise taxes because look at all of this spending. and tax heights aikes and no sh spending, nothing's going to change, except they're going to say we need more of your money. >> one last bite here, i'm tired of coming on the air here, listening to republicans talk about how the democrats don't want to cut medicare, when we put real cuts on the table and mitt romney wanted to spend 716 billion dollars more in medicare. we've cut medicare, the republicans is tried to increase spending on medicare. democrats have demonstrated a willingness to deal with entitlements, to reduce defense, raise taxes, we've got to do all three of those things. if you want to deal with the deficit. if you want to have political

shouting on these kinds of shows, you can do that. it's not enough money to get there. we've already shown we're willing to do the hard stuff, we're still waiting for the republicans to come with a real plan that actually cuts spending, which they never offer during any of the fiscal cliff negotiations, not one time. >> megyn: that's a fair point, michael. the republicans did not take the leadership on spending cuts. >> and the republicans who passed-- the republicans passed the ryan budget twice, that's current, that's leadership. and the money cut for medicare went straight to obamacare, it's one government pocket to another. that's not a cut. obamacare's going to drive spending up, everybody knows it, and the plan is to keep spending. >> megyn: it's funny during the election the republicans argued that that was a cut that the democrats had cut medicare and the democrats said we didn't cut medicare and now that obama won the election, president obama, that's the reverse and the-- guys, thank you both. >> thank you. >> megyn: coming up next, talk show host bill maher recently attacked donald trump with an

ugly accusation and covered him 5 million dollars if he could prove he was not the son of an orangutan. yes, i kid you not. that's what he said on the jay leno show and donald trump has now offered said proof. does he get the 5 million bucks? that's next. [ male announcer ] this is sheldo whose long day setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news.

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. >>. kelly's court is back in session on the docket today, show me the money. donald trump is now demanding through his lawyers that liberal comedian bill maher fork over 5 million dollars, maher promised to give mr. trump after challenging him on the tonight show. listen. >> we did a new rule one week, that supposed perhaps that donald trump had been the spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan. unless he comes up with proof, i'm willing to-- i'm willing to offer 5 million dollars to donald trump. >> 5 million dollars?

>> if he will-- that he can donate to a charity of his choice. >> charity of his choice. >> megyn: well, mr. trump has now proved maher wrong by releasing his birth certificate and says now that he is prepared to sue bill maher if he does not receive said check for 5 million dollars to the charity of his choice. could maher really be on the hook for 5 million bucks. joining me now mark eand sends a letter. atorched here to demonstrating that he is the son of fred trump not an orangutan and please submit the 5 million to mr. trump immediately and make sure that it's donated to five charities. and there's donald trump's birth certificate showing he's the son of fred trump not quote an orangutan.

i submit this to you, does maher owe him the money. >> he owes the money here is why, the sole issue whether maher's comment amounts to a legal offered. the mind of donald trump did he have a reasonable belief what maher offered was legitimate? he did, and maher is going to say it was just humor, it was just in jest, in order to determine whether it was in jest, you look into the mind of trump not maher, it's not subjectively what maher was intending to do and what maher did here, waste advancing a political agenda, it was character assassination on trump. he was challenging him to produce the birth certificate because trump had made that comment to obama early on. >> oh, come on. >> megyn: this followed up trump's offer during the the election if barack obama opens up and gives his college record and application and passports applications and records i'll give 5 million dollars to a charity of his choice, which was a serious

offer, mark. >> that's right. >> do you think? >> does that somehow make bill maher's offer any more serious? >> no. let me -- let me address only those who don't have a sense of humor because those who do understand this is comedy. this is what comics do. they don't just tell knock-knock jokes, it comes in this form. nos that don't have a sense of humor, again, are you all sitting down? here, i did some research and i'm going to show you why this was merely a joke and comedy. because it says right here, apparently, humans cannot breed with orangutans. (laughter) >> meg, i move to dismiss. i move for sanctions, this is frivolous, i want legal fees and i want a hug and an apology. >> megyn: the fact that it is impossible doesn't mean that maher was expecting trump to come forward with said proof of the impossible. i mean, i suppose-- go ahead, ryan, you go. >> megyn, this doesn't have anything to do with the

orangutan, it has to do with what trump interpreted to be a challenge about this birth certificate. what maher meant was, well, obama was never going to produce his birth certificate to the whole country, hello. so, trump-- >> and a record-- >>'s not going to do this either. mark, i've got a blank check for you right here. >> humorless alert. >> i'm going to write in an amount for you and your wife to go to anyplace you want to go in miami for dinner, i'm going to buy you court side tickets to the heat playoff game, if you promise not to interrupt me on the next show. now-- (laughter) >> let me interrupt. >> then i wouldn't get a word in edge-wise, so, you know i've got to do what i've got to do. >> megyn: this is not going to be judged by trump's mind, it's by the objective reasonable observer. >> megyn, thank you, it's called reasonable intent of the parties. so, the question he is, if you watch the entire clip, which i did and i don't know if my

zealous advocate did, but it lasts about two minutes long and you can clearly see from the context that he had no intent to actually pay him off. no different than a drunk guy yelling in a bar i'll give you a million dollars if you guess what band sings this song. >> megyn: we will leave it at that. thanks for being here. we'll be right back.

. >> a brand new developments in the case of the missing fashion mogul. vittorio missoni. his name is all over target shelves. his son saying he's not buying the disappearance. trace gallagher from troom. >> reporter: we're talking 400 plus people in planes and boats and helicopters scouring the waters off the coast of venezuela for the better part

now of seven days and they have not found any sign of wreckage or of vittore owe missoni and wife and two friends who apparently died in this plane crash. his son saying he thinks the plane crash is the least likely scenario. he believes his parents were kidnapped. but there have been no ransom requests at all. now, much of his opinion is kind of based on this mysterious text message sent from a phone of a man who was on board the plane, with missoni. the message sent to his son two days after the plane disappeared saying, call us, we're now reachable. but the calls to that phone have not been answered. drug bandits, we should point out, are well-known in this area and vittorio missoni's fashion empire generates 100 million dollars a year. another pilot saw them get on the plane and a third pilot saw them flying into a dangerous thunderstorm, but a lot of experts say it's highly unusual in those crystal clear waters not to find anybody or

any sign of wreckage at all, and we should note, they are calling off the search as of today, megyn. >> megyn: wow. okay. all right, trace, thank you. the deadly flu outbreak across the country is getting worse. with word now after vaccine shortage in the a least one city and hospitals get inundated with flu patients. we'll have more on that next. t. mom, pop it. ♪ two inches apart, becky. two inches. t-minus nine minutes. [ ding ] [ female announcer ] pillsbury cinnamon rolls. let the making begin. ♪ hi, i'm ensure clear... clear, huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've gotine grams of protein. that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach.

>> there was a baby lion that ran across the street. >> it was not a lion, it was a dog whose shat resembles the main of a cat. i i'll leave you with this, one of our producers noticed somethin